Connector assembly



1970 1 R. R. BOGGS, JR 3,539,

CONNECTOR ASSEMBLY Filed July 15, 1968 7 Sheets-Sheet 1 FRONT OF MACHINE REAR OF MACHINE 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 2O 22 24 26 28 3032 34 36 JOMPERS (7 MIKE CONNECTION Fl 41551s11115151119212525212951.5555

FOOT CONTROL HEADSET 2 4 6 8 1O 12 14 16 18 2O 22 24 26 28 3O 32 34 36 JUMPERS d FOOT CONTROL 81 HEADSET CONNECTION TRA INVENTOR d TRA 00111115011011 BY M C M 9 ATTORNEY R J s G G O B R R CONNECTOR ASSEMBLY 7 Sheets-Sheet 2' Filed July 15, 1968 Filed July 15, 1968 MICROPHONE R. R. BOGGS, JR

CONNECTOR ASSEMBLY 7 Sheets-Sheet 3 M) MICROPHONE 0% I I L l 2"! 96A smmj 2s J 901 FL'IIIIZ'ZIZ'ZZI'::II'IIIII'IIIIIL'I: H r

HEADSH I. I

AUDIO POWER m 15a 15b 13c 13d 13s FIG 14 av. 10, 1970 R. R. 50669, JR

CONNECTOR ASSEMBLY Filed July 15, 1968 7 Sheets-Sheet 4L LEAD F I 1 b SCREW HOLE G 3 I 0 DETECT I I I I I I I I l I I L U INE ii E&T 0 NT R0L I R. RBOGGS, JR

. CONNECTOR ASSEMBLY 7 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed July 15, 1968 10, 1970 R. R. 80665, JR

CONNECTOR ASSEMBLY Filed July 15, 196a 7 Sheets-Sheet e 7.5K 10K .33 5.6K

019 i I 100 2 -1 :F-I I I P BATTERY 1970 R. R. Bases, JR 3,539,773

CONNECTOR ASSEMBLY Filed July 15, 1968 7 Sheets-Sheet 7 3,539,739 CONNECTOR ASSEMBLY Raymond R. Boggs, J12, Lexington, Ky., assignor to International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, N.Y., a corporation of New York Filed July 15, 1968, Ser. No. 744,801 Int. Cl. H01r 33/30 US. Cl. 200 -51.1 19 Claims ABSTRACT OF DISCLOSURE A connector assembly includes first and second housings secured to each other with a plurality of electrically conductive members disposed therebetween. Each of the electrically conductive members has a first portion disposed in the first housing and a second portion disposed in the second housing. A control member is slidably mounted on the second housing and connects a plurality of the electrically conductive members to exterior electrically conductive members to form circuits therebetween when the control member is in a first position. When a plug having an actuating member thereon is inserted in receptacles in the first housing, the actuating member moves the control member to a second position to disconnect the exterior electrically conductive members from the second portions of the electrically conductive members. When the plug is inserted in the first housing, electrically conductive members on the plug contact with the first portions of the electrically conductive members to form circuits therebetween.

In the copending patent application of Chester M. Fackler et al. for Dictating And Transcribing Apparatus with Automatic and Semi-Automatic Operator-Controlled Facilities, Ser. No. 699,259, filed Jan. 19, 1968, and assigned to the same assignee as the assignee of the present application, there is shown a dictating apparatus in which various accessories may be utilized therewith. One of these accessories is a foot control for controlling various operations in the dictating apparatus. When the foot control is utilized, it is desired to inactivate some of the circuits of the dictating apparatus that are utilized when the dictating apparatus is controlled by a hand-held microphone. If this inactivation were not accomplished, there would not be sufiicient power to perform the desired functions when using the foot control.

The present invention satisfactorily solves the foregoing problem by utilizing a connector assembly in which the insertion of the plug of the foot control into the assembly automatically disconnects the circuits within the dictat ng apparatus that it is desired to render inoperative when the foot control is utilized. The present invention accomplishes this by utilizing a movably mounted block that is responsive to actuating means when the plug is inserted into the receptacle.

An object of this invention is to provide a connector assembly in which circuits are connected and disconnected depending on whether a plug is inserted in receptacles in the assembly and the type of plug inserted.

Another object of this invention is to provide a connector assembly having means for automatically changing circuit connections in response to insertion of a plug in receptacles in the assembly.

The foregoing and other objects, features, and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following more particular description of a preferred embodiment of the invention as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

3,539,739 Patented Nov. 10, 15970 In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a persceptive view of a dictating apparatus utilizing the connector assembly of the present invention.

(FIG. 2 is a perspective view, similar to FIG. 1, showing the connector assembly having a foot control plug and a headset plug connected thereto.

FIG. 3 is a schematic view showing the various receptacles in the connector assembly.

FIG. 4 is a schematic view showing the receptacles of the connector assembly that will be utilized with the foot control. plug and the headset plug.

FIG. 5 is a schematic view showing the connectors of the assembly that will be utilized with a telephone recording attachment.

FIG. 6 is a top plan view of a portion of the connector assembly showing the position of the movable connec tor block when the foot control plug is not inserted in the connector assembly.

FIG. 7 is a top plan view, similar to FIG. 6, of a portion of the connector assembly and showing the position of the movable connector block when the connector assembly has the plug of the foot control inserted therein.

FIG. 8 is an exploded perspective view of the connector assembly of the present invention and a plug for use with the assembly to change the position of the movable connector block.

FIG. 9 is a perspective view illustrating the assembled relation of the various parts of FIG. 8 including the plug being fully received within the connector assembly to change the position of the movable connector block.

FIG. 10 is a sectional view of a portion of the connector assembly and showing the plug of the foot control prior to its complete insertion into receptacles in the connector assembly.

FIG. 11 is a sectional view, similar to FIG. 10, but with the plug of the foot control completely inserted into receptacles in the connector assembly.

FIG. 12 is a perspective view of a portion of one of the electrically conductive members including the terminal connected thereto.

FIGS. 13a-13e, when arranged as shown in FIG. 14, comprise a detailed circuit arrangement for the dictating unit of FIG. 1.

FIG. 14 is a block diagram illustrating how the circuit diagrams of FIGS. 1311-1312 are arranged.

Referring to the drawings and particularly FIG. 1, there is shown a dictating unit 40 of the type more particularly shown and described in the aforesaid Fackler et al. application. The dictating unit 40 has a connector assembly 41 of the present invention supported therein and disposed for reception of plugs through an opening in its bottom wall 42.

As shown in FIG. 8, the connector assembly 41 includes a first housing or block 43 and a second housing or block 44. The housings 43 and 44, which are formed of a suitable insulating material, are fixedly secured to each other by suitable means such as screws, for example, extending through openings 45 in cars 46 on the second housing 44 and into threaded openings 47 in the first housing 43. The housing 43 has a threaded opening 48 at its end remote from the openings 47 to receive a screw extending through an opening (not shown) in the second housing 44. Thus, both the front and rear of the housings 43 and 44 are fixedly secured to each other.

The lower wall of the second housing 44 is formed with a rectangular shaped recess 49 so that the bottom wall of the recess is spaced from upper surface 50 of the first housing 43 as shown in FIGS. 10 and 11. This spacing is necessary to accommodate electrically conductive members '51, which are disposed between the top of the first housing 43 and the bottom of the second housing 44.

As shown in FIG. 12, each of the electrically conductive members 51 includes an electrically conductive wire 52, which is surrounded by an insulating sheath, connected to a terminal 53 of the wire crimp ed type. Thus, the terminal 53 is crimped to the wire 52.

The terminal 53 has a barrel type receptacle 54, which is disposed within a receptacle 55 in the upper surface 50 of the first housing 43, on its lower end. Each of the receptacles 55 extends through a portion 56 of the first housing 43.

The terminal 53 has a switch contact 57, which extends through a passage 58 in the second housing 44, on its upper end. As shown in FIGS. and 11, the passage 58 extends from the recess 49 in the bottom wall of the second housing 44 to upper surface 59 of the second housing 44. Accordingly, the switch contact 57 of the terminal 53 extends beyond the upper surface 59 of the second housing 44.

The lower surface of each side of the second housing 44 has arcuate passages 60 formed therein to accommodate a portion of each of the terminals 53. This arrangement of the terminals 53 extending into the arcuate passages 60 is illustrated in FIG. 9 wherein the connector assembly 41 is shown in its assembled relationship.

With the foregoing arrangement, insertion of pins 61 of a plug 62 into the receptacles 55 in the first housing 43 will result in each of the electrically conductive pins 61 of the plug 62 being disposed in one of the barrel type receptacles 54 of the terminals 53 and electrically connected thereto. Thus, when the plug 62 is received by the first housing 43 so that the pins 61 are fully inserted within the receptacles 55 so as to be in electrical contact with the barrel type receptacles 54 of the terminals 53, the electrically conductive pins 61, which form electrically conductive members, will complete a circuit. This is because the wires 52 of the electrically conductive members 51 are connected to suitable portions of the dictating unit 40.

As shown in FIG. 2, the plug 62 is connected by a cable 63 to a foot control 64. The foot control 64 contains various switch elements to control the dictating unit 40 through the circuits formed between the pins 61 and the electrically conductive members 51. It should be understood that the cable 63 contains electrically conductive wires leading from the pins 61 to the switch elements in the foot control 64.

The connector assembly 41 includes a block 65 (see FIG. 8), which is slidably mounted on the upper surface 59 of the second housing 44 and formed of a suitable insulating material. The bottom of the slidable block 65 has a recess 66 (see FIGS. 10 and 11) formed therein so that the switch contacts 57 of the terminal 53 are not engaged by the block 65 when the block 65 is mounted on the second housing 44.

The block 65 has passages 67 extending therethrough. The number of the passages 67 is the same as the number of the receptacles 55 in the first housing 43 and the number of the passages 58 in the second housing 44.

Some of the passages 67 have switch contact terminals 68 inserted therein. The switch contact terminals 68 have their lower ends 69 formed of two resiliently biased split portions to cooperate with one of the switch contacts 57 of the terminal 53. Each of the switch contact terminals 68 has its upper end 70 formed with a receptacle to receive a taper pin 71 having an electrically conductive member 72 connected thereto. The electrically conductive member 72 includes an electrically conductive wire 73 surrounded by an insulating sheath 74.

Accordingly, a circuit may be completed from one of the electrically conductive members 51 to the electrically conductive member 72, which is exterior of the connector assembly 41, through the switch contact 57 of the terminal 53, the switch contact terminal 68, and the taper pin 71. The electrically conductive members 72 are connected to elements within a handheld microphone 73 (see FIG.

4 13a) of the dictating unit 40 while the electrically conductive members 51 are connected to elements within the dictating unit 40.

The block 65 is positioned on the second housing 44 by having ears 74 on the sides thereof inserted into the space between upstanding and parallel lugs 75 on the second housing 44. Then, the block 65 is moved towards a stop 76 on the second housing 44 whereby the ears 74 are disposed beneath flanges of the upstanding lugs 75 on the second housing 44.

A spring 77, which is supported in a well 78 in the first housing 43, continuously urges the block 65 into engagement with the stop 76 on the second housing 44. As a result, electrical contact is made between some of the switch contact terminals 68 in the passages 67 in the block 65 and some of the terminals 53 of the electrically conductive members 51 to form electrical circuits. This is the position of the block 65 shown in FIG. 6.

All of these circuits are broken when the block 65 is moved against the force of the spring 77. This occurs when an inclined wall 79 (see FIGS. 10 and 11) of a pasage 80 extending through the block 65 is engaged by an actuating member 81 on the plug 62. When the plug 62 is inserted into the portion 56 of the first housing 43 through having the pins 61 disposed in the receptacles 55, the actuating member 81 passes through a passage 82 in the portion 56 of the first housing 43 and a passage 83 in the second housing 44. The passa es 82 and 83 are aligned with each other and with a portion of the passage 80. This permits the actuating member 81 to also function as a polarizing member for the plug 62 to insure the correct insertion of the pins 61 into the desired receptacles 55.

Accordingly, as shown in FIGS. 10 and 11, the insertion of the actuating member 81 into the passage 80 results in the block 65 being moved against the force of the spring 77. This moves the block 65 from the position of FIG. 6 to the position of FIG. 7 wherein the block 65 is no longer in engagement with the stop 76 on the second housing 44 but is spaced therefrom. This amount of movement of the block 65 by the actuating member 81 is equal to the distance between-two of the rows of the receptacles 55 in the first housing 43 and two of the rows of the passage 58 in the second housing 44.

Therefore, the inclined wall 79 of the passage 80 functions as cam means since it cams the block 65 against the force of the spring 77. Furthermore, the length of the actuating member 81 may be determined so that it does not extend through the block 65. Thus, it is only necessary that the inclined wall 79 in the block 65 be constructed to cooperate with the actuating member 81 to move the block 65 the desired distance. Therefore, only a recess in the block 65 may be necessary rather than the passage 80 extending completely therethrough.

Accordingly, when the plug 62 is completely inserted into the portion 56 of the first housing 43, the block 65 is moved to the position of FIG. 11 wherein there is no longer any connection between the electrically conductive members 51 and the electrically conductive members 72. Instead, the communication is between the electrically conductive members 51 and the pins 61, which also function as electrically conductive members. Thus, circuits are broken and other circuits are made when the plug 62 is completely received in the connector assembly 41 of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 3, there is shown the arrangement of the receptacles 55 in the first housing 43 in a schematic form. As shown in FIG. 3, each row of the receptacles 55 has two of the terminals 53 therein since each of the rows of the receptacles 55 has only two of the receptacles 55 therein. Each of the terminals 53 is identified by a terminal number from 1 to 36. (These are the same numbers used in the aforesaid Fackler et al. application to identify the same terminals.)

As shown in FIG. 3, terminal 1 is connected to a circuit in the hand-held microphone 73 when the block 65 is in the position of FIG. 10. Likewise, terminal 2, which is in the same row of the receptacles as the terminal 1, is not connected to a circuit in the hand-held microphone 73 when the block 65 is in the position of FIG. 10.

It should be understood that there is no plug in the connector assembly 41 at this time except for a plug 84, which is connected to a pair of power input pins 85 on the second housing 44. The plug 84 is connected to the source of power by a cable 86 and a plug 87. It should be understood that the pins 85 are connected through suitable circuitry to supply power to the circuits of the dictating unit 40.

Therefore, only terminals 1, 3, 6-8, 11, 12, 17, 18, 20, 25, 27, 28, and 30 in the receptacles 55 are utilized when the hand-held microphone 73 is employed. These terminals correspond to the same numbers disclosed in FIGS. 1311-132 with the terminals 1-36 in the receptacles 55 being shown in FIG. 13b. The circuits of FIGS. 13a- 132 are the same as the circuit disclosed in the aforesaid Fackler et al. application.

The terminals 1, 3, 6-8, 11, 12, 17, 18, 20, 25, 27, 28, and 30 in the receptacles 55 make contact with corresponding terminals in the block 65. These terminals are shown on the right side of FIG. 13a and have the taper pins 71 forming part thereof along with the corresponding switch contact terminals 68 in the passages 67 in the block 65.

It should be understood that the electrically conductive members 72 are enclosed within a sheath 88 (see FIGS. 6 and 7) that passes through a clamp 89 on the top surface of the block 65. This insures that the taper pins 71 move with the block 65 when it is moved between the positions of FIG. 6 and FIG. 7.

Thus, the circuits to the foregoing terminals in the handheld microphone 73 are supplied from the terminals 53 of the electrically conductive members 51 when the block 65 is in the position shown in FIG. 10. Therefore, a plurality of circuits is made when the block 65 is in the position of FIG. 10.

When it is desired to transcribe the recorded material, the dictating unit 40 may be employed for transcription. Thus, it is only necessary to utilize the foot control 64 and a headset 90, which includes a pair of ear plugs 91 to transcribe. The headset 90 is connected through a cable 92 and a plug 93 to the connector assembly 41. The plug 93 has pins adapted to be inserted into the receptacles 55, which contain terminals 25-27 as shown in FIG. 4, for connection to the electrically conductive members 51 attached to terminals 25-27.

The plug 93 has a polarizing member thereon for disposition within a passage 94 (see FIG. 8) extending through the portion 56 of the first housing 43 and a passage 95 extending through the second housing 44. The passages 94 and 95 are aligned with each other so that the polarizing member may easily pass therethrough. This insures that the pins of the plug 93 are properly oriented with respect to the receptacles 55 into which they are to be disposed in accordance with the schematic diagram of FIG. 4.

When the plug 62 of the foot control 64 is fully received within the first housing 43, terminals 6-11, 13, and 18 receive the pins 61 of the plug 62. This forms electrical circuits between switch control elements in the foot control 64 and circuits in the dictating unit 40 through the electrically conductive meembers 51.

Since the foot control 64 controls the operation of the dictating unit 40 in the manner more specifically shown and described in the aforesaid Fackler et al. application, the operation will not be described herein. However, when the headset 90 and the foot control 64 are both connected to the connector assembly 41, the operation of the dictating unit 40 is under the control of the foot control 64. The only way in which the recorded material may be heard is through the headset because the movement of the block 65 from the position of FIG. 10 to the position of FIG. 11 has disconnected the terminals 25 and 27 from a speaker 96 (see FIG. 13a), which is the speaker of the hand-held microphone 73. It should be understood that all of the terminals, which are shown on the right side of FIG. 13a, are removed from connection with the terminals of the electrically conductive members 51 of FIG. 13b when the block 65 is moved from the position of FIG. 10 to the position of FIG. 11.

As previously mentioned in the aforesaid Fackler et al. application, the dictating unit 40 may also be utilized to record telephone conversations through a telephone recording attachment (TRA). When the telephone recording attachment is employed, the plug for the telephone recording attachment is connected to the same area of the first housing 43 as the plug 62 of the foot control 64. This prevents simultaneous use of the foot control 64 and the telephone recording attachment.

While the plug of the telephone recording attachment has a member, which is similar to the actuating member 81, it is not the same length as the actuating member 81 so that it does not extend sufficiently to engage the inclined wall 79 of the passage 80 in the block 65. However, it does extend through the passage 82 in the first housing 43 and the passage 83 in the second housing 44 to provide the proper alignment of the pins on the plug with the desired receptacles 55 to give the proper polarization of the plug.

As shown in FIG. 5, only terminals 2, 4, 7, and 17 are utilized with the telephone recording attachment. It is not desired for the block 65 to be moved from the position of FIG. 10 when the telephone recording attachment is utilized since it is necessary to record from the telephone recording attachment by utilizing the circuitry employed when dictating through use of the hand-held microphone 73. Therefore, the slidable block 65 does not move when the telephone recording attachment has its plug connected to the connector assembly 41 instead of the plug 62 of the foot control 64.

Thus, the connector assembly 41 of the present invention permits the dictating unit 40 of the aforesaid Fackler et al. application to be employed in a plurality of different modes without any special efforts by the operator. It is only necessary that the appropriate plugs be connected or disconnected to the connector assembly 41.

For example, when dictation is to be recorded on the dictating unit 40 through utilization of the handheld microphone 73, only the plug 84 is received in the connector assembly 41 as shown in FIG. 1. With this arrangement, the terminals on the right side of FIG. 13a are connected through the switch control terminals 68 in the block 65, which is in the position shown in FIG. 6, to the electrically conductive members 51. This is accomplished through the lower ends 69 of the switch contact terminals 68 engaging the switch contacts 57 of the terminals 53.

If it is desired to record a telephone conversation, the plug of the telephone recording attachment is inserted in a portion of the first housing 43 of the connector assembly 41. This is the same area that receives the plug 62, as previously mentioned, to prevent simultaneous use of the telephone recording attachment and the foot contro164.

While the plug of the telephone recording attachment has a polarizing pin or member, which passes through the passages 82 and 83 to insure the desired polarization of the pins on the plug, it does not enter into the passage 80' so that it does not engage the inclined wall 79. As a result, there is no movement of the block 65. Thus, power is supplied to the telephone recording attachment from terminal 17 due to section 1 of a switch assembly 97 (see FIG. being moved to the appropriate position for telephone recording. Likewise, audio is supplied through terminal 2 and section 2 of the switch assembly 97 to a magnetic head 98 for recording in the manner more particularly shown and described in the aforesaid Fackler et al. application.

When the dictating unit 40 is to be utilized for transcribing the recorded material, the plugs 62 and 93 are inserted into the connector assembly 41. With the pins 61 on the plug 62 received in the first housing 43, circuits are formed between the switch control elements in the foot control 64 and the electrically conductive members 51 whereby actuation of the foot control 64 controls the operation of the dictating unit 40.

As previously mentioned, the reception of the pins 61 of the plug 62 in the receptacles 55 in the first housing 43 of the connector assembly 41 results in the block 65 being moved from the position of FIG. 6 to the position of FIG. 7. This breaks all the circuit connections to the terminals, which are disposed on the right side of FIG. 13a. Thus, the hand-held microphone 73 is completely disconnected so that no utilization thereof may be obtained.

The insertion of the plug 93 permits the transcriber to hear the recorded material through terminals 25 and 27. The terminal 25 is grounded while the terminal 27 is connected through a mike-speaker switch 99 (see FIG. 13a) to an integrated amplifying circuit 100 in the manner more particularly shown and described in the aforesaid Fackler et al. application.

While the aforesaid Fackler et al. application describes the integrated amplifying circuit 100 as providing the output for listening through the speaker 96 in the microphone 73 or a speaker 101 in the dictating unit 40, the same logic is applicable when listening to the output through the ear plugs 91. This is because the speaker 96 in the microphone 73 is inactivated due to movement of the block 65 from the position of FIG. 6 to the position of FIG. 7. The position of the switch 99 inactivates the speaker 10.1 in the dictating unit 40. Thus, the output of the integrated amplifying circuit 100 may only be received through the ear plugs 91 of the headset 90 when the plug 62 is received in the connector assembly 41.

While the block 65 of the present invention has been described as being slidably mounted, it should be understood that it could be rotatably mounted, for example. It is only necessary that the block 65 be normally disposed in one position and be capable of being moved to a second position in response to the reception of a plug or the like within the connector assembly 41.

While each of the terminals 53 has been shown as having one of the barrel type receptacles 54 disposed in each of the receptacles 55 in the first housing 43 and one of the switch contacts 57 in each of the passages 58 in the second housing 44, it should be understood that this is not a requisite for satisfactory operation. Thus, for example, some of the terminals 53 could have only the barrel type receptacles 54 thereon and disposed in the receptacles 55 in the first housing 43 while other of the terminals 53 could have only the switch contacts 57 thereon and disposed in the passages 58 in the second housing 44.

While the spring 77 has been shown as mounted on the first housing 43, it should be understood that the spring 77 could be mounted on any fixed part. For example, the spring 77 could be mounted on the second housing 44 of the connector assembly 41 or a fixed portion of the dictating unit 40.

While the connector assembly 41 of the present invention has been shown as utilized with the dictating unit 40 of the aforesaid Fackler et a1. application, it should be understood that the connector assembly of the present invention may be readily utilized wherever it is desired to make and break electric circuits automatically when a plug is inserted in a connector assembly. For example, the connector assembly of the present invention might be utilized to change various inputs to a computer 8 through merely utilizing the insertion of a plug in a connector assembly.

An advantage of this invention is that it permits automatic changing of circuit connections. Another advantage of this invention is that it permits utilization of a single dictating unit for both dictating and transcribing.

While the invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to a preferred embodiment thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. A connector assembly including:

a housing;

said housing having electrically conductive members;

movable means mounted on said housing for movement between first and second positions; said movable means having at least one exterior electrically conductive member supported thereon;

said movable means including means to electrically connect at least one of said electrically conductive members to said exterior electrically conductive member to form a first circuit when said movable means is in the first position;

said housing including means to receive a plug or the like having at least one electrically conductive member for connection to one of said electrically conductive members in said housing to form a second circuit;

and said movable means having means responsive to said receiving means of said housing receiving the plug to move said movable means from the first position to the second position to disconnect the first circuit formed between said electrically conductive member in said housing and said exterior electrically conductive member.

2. The assembly according to claim 4 in which said movable means is slidably supported on said housing.

3. A connector assembly including:

a first housing;

a second housing mounted on said first housing;

electrically conductive members;

at least one of said electrically conductive members has a first position disposed in said first housing and at least one of said electrically conductive members has a second portion disposed in said second housing; means movably mounted on said second housing for movement between first and second positions;

at least one exterior electrically conductive member;

said movably mounted means including means to electrically connect said second portion of at least one of said electrically conductive members to said exterior electrically conductive member when said movably mounted means is disposed in the first position;

and means to mount said movably mounted means for movement to the second position upon said first housing receiving a plug or the like having at least one electrically conductive member for connection to said first portion of at least one of said electrically conductive members whereby said second portion of said electrically conductive member is disconnected from said exterior electrically conductive member to which it is connected when said movably mounted means is in the first position.

4. The assembly according to claim 3 in which said movably mounted means has means responsive to said first housing receiving the plug to be movable from the first position to the second position.

5. The assembly according to claim 3 in which said movably mounted means has cam means therein, said cam means being responsive to said first housing receiving the plug to move said movably mounted means from the first position to the second position.

silient means continuously urging said movably mounted means to the first position.

8. The assembly according to claim 7 in which said resilient means is supported on said first housing.

9. The assembly according to claim 3 in which said movably mounted means is slidably mounted on said second housing.

10. The assembly according to claim 3 in which each of said electrically conductive members has a first portion disposed in said first housing and a second portion disposed in said second housing.

11. The assembly according to claim 3 in which said electrically conductive members are disposed between said first housing and said second housing.

12. The assembly according to claim 1 in which:

each of said electrically conductive members has a first portion and a second portion;

said movable means has a plurality of exterior electrically conductive members supported thereon;

said movable means includes separate means to electrically connect each of a plurality of only said second portions of said electrically conductive members to each of a plurality of said exterior electrically conductive members to form a plurality of first circuits;

and each of only said first portions of said electrically conductive members engages each of a plurality of electrically conductive members on the plug when said receiving means receives the plug having the plurality of electrically conductive members thereon to form a plurality of second circuits.

13. The assembly according to claim 12 in which:

said housing has a plurality of passages therein;

said first and second portions of each of said electrically conductive members is disposed in one of said passages in said housing;

and said receiving means of said housing comprises a plurality of said passages in said housing to receive the electrically conductive members of the plug therein with said first portion of said electrically conductive member in each of said passages of said receiving means engaging the electrically conductive member of the plug received therein.

14. The assembly according to claim 1 in which:

said responsive means of said movable means is engaged by means on the plug received by said receiving means to move said movable means from the first position to the second position;

and said housing has passage means therein to allow the means of the plug that moves said movable member to said second position to extend through said housing without contacting any of said electrically conductive members.

15. The assembly according to claim 1 in which the first circuit is broken when said movable means is moved from the first position and the second circuit is not formed until said movable means is in the second position.

16. The assembly according to claim 10 in which said movably mounted means has a plurality of said exterior electrically conductive members supported thereon for movement therewith with at least two of said exterior electrically conductive members being connected to two of said second portions by said electrically connecting means when said movably mounted means is in the first position.

17. The assembly according to claim 3 in which:

each of said housings has an equal number of passages extending therethrough;

each of said electrically conductive members has:

a first portion disposed in one of said passages in said first housing;

and a second portion disposed in one of said passages in said second housing;

and each of said passages in said first housing and said second housing having said first portion and said second portion of the same electrically conductive member therein being aligned with each other.

18. The assembly according to claim 17 in which:

some of said passages in said first housing receive the electrically conductive members of the plug to form second circuits with said first portions of said electrically conductive members in said passages receiving the electrically conductive members of the plug; and each of said first housing and second housing having an aligned passage therein,- separate from said passages having said first and second portions of said electrically conductive members therein, to receive an actuating member of the plug to move said movably mounted means to said second position.

19. The assembly according to claim 3 in which:

said first housing has means to receive the plug;

and said movably mounted means has means responsive to said receiving means of said first housing receiving the plug to be movable to the second position.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS FOREIGN PATENTS 10/1964 Sweden.

ROBERT K. SCHAEFER, Primary Examiner D. SMITH, JR., Assistant Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R'..

ZOO-51.07

3, 539,739 November 10 1970 Patent No. Dated Inventor(s) Raymond R. Boges 1 Jr;

It is certified that error appears in the above-identified patent and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

Column 8 line 38, "4" should read 1 line 45 "position" should read portion Signed and sealed this 4th day of M I 1971 (SEAL) Attest:

EDWARD M.FLETCHER,JR. WILLIAM E SCHUYLER Attesting Officer Commissioner of Pater FORM PO-IOSO (10-69] uscoMM-nc 0037a. 

